Shakeology - your resource to jump start your diet and get you looking great in time for summer

Monday, June 28, 2010

Taking the Cake - Literally

There is something very wrong with our children.  Are we raising them in the absence of manners or do they just not care about anyone but themselves? 

Case in point, last week we had a birthday celebration for a co-worker.  Wanting something summery and decadent, we went out and bought a Friendly's Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake.

I don't even want to know the number of calories in it - boy was it good.  Everyone in the office tried to be good and took small slices so we had half the cake left over.

We put it in the leftovers in the freezer for the next day.  When I came in the next morning there were dirty dishes covered with peanut butter ice cream left out for the catering staff to deal with.  I'm sure you can guess what happened.

Friday, June 25, 2010

If I have to read another boring article...

Have you noticed how many boring articles there are out in the blogosphere?

After you read a few, don’t you just lose interest?

There is no need to be so serious all the time. How about a little quirky humor?  I myself have a very dry sense of humor mixed with a touch of sarcasm - but just a touch.

I have been re-reading many of my own articles and uggh, I am so “type-A”.  

I am the type of person who scores next to nothing on the social skills area of a personality test.  I am great on crafting a plan but boy do I suck at making conversation.

You know my type, the one who dreads going to parties because she can’t make small talk to save her life.

Yes, that’s me.  So please don’t invite me over unless you want to talk “shop.”  I am great when we are discussing business, self-improvement, coaching, marketing and such.

As for future articles, I promise to make them more interesting for you to read.  If I insult you with my dry humor, I apologize in advance.

So let me finish this article with a little such humor...

Q: Ever wonder about people who pay $2 for a bottle of Evian water?
A: Just spell "Evian" backwards!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Trashy Romance Novels and Summer - 2 of my favorite things.

(When reading the title, please humm "Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music - HA HA:)

Ok, this post is for the ladies...

Trashy romance novels and summer just go together - am I right?

If I worked at a Borders, I would put a display of suntan lotion and i-Tunes gift cards at either end of the romance aisle.  I would even buy scented "suntan lotion" candles to set the mood.

I love sitting by the pool with good tunes and a great romance novel.  Don't you?

I do have a bone to pick though with the publishers of these books though.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Should you be offended?

I was reading my tweets today and I came across one where the writer describing how she was upset by a Subway commercial.  In the commercial, average people are seen eating fast food.  The scenes that follow show these same people breaking a diving board as they jumps, breaking a chair as they sit, etc.

The point Subway was trying to make is that eating these foods would weigh you down and cause you to gain weight.

The writer of the blog felt the commercial was poking fun at fat people and as a result was offended.  What do you think?  Have you seen the commercial?

The writer felt that the ad was saying it is ok to make fun of fat people and compared it to making fun of someone based on their nationality or skin color.


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Punish All to Deal with One

This post is inspired by Seth Godin's post about snowglobes.  His post talks about putting up a sign in everyone's way alerting travelers at airports that snowglobes are not allowed onboard the plane.

The point of the post is that because one careless person didn't think to check a snowglobe with his luggage, all travelers need to be alerted to the potential problem.  How many times have you traveled with a snowglobe?

I have to say it is has never happened to me.

Look around you though at all the signs, warnings and rules we have because one person did something stupid. I love the warnings that say "do not eat" on those little freshening packets that come in your sneakers.  Can you picture someone being dumb enough to say, "Oh wow, my new sneakers came with a snack!"  I mean really...

Monday, June 21, 2010

Fat People eat at Taco Bell

A little while ago I went with my family to Taco Bell.  My kids love tacos but I am a vegetarian so I am not a big fan of the place.

There is nothing on the menu that I will eat so I just sit and sip water while my family eats.  So to pass the time, I studied the people who were in the restaurant and what they were eating.

OMG, everyone was grossly overweight.  It was like an ad for “why you shouldn’t eat at Taco Bell!”  I watched men and women eating six tacos or more, chips covered with gooey cheese and slurp gigantic sodas.

My family was by far the skinniest there.  We actually stood out.  I was completely grossed out by watching the people around me.  I kept thinking, “this is why America is fat.”  Look at what we eat.

I got a good laugh from reading the fine print on the frozen juice drinks.  They contain something like 3% juice.  The rest is sugar and water.  Gee - can’t wait to have some of that.

I wanted to run to each table and pull the food away.  STEP BACK FROM THE TACOS.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Recharging

As I sit here and write it is Friday afternoon. I am enjoying my last few minutes of quiet before my son gets off the bus and the daily family chaos begins.

I am feeling pretty good because I just finished a great week of working out. Saturday is my rest day and I am really looking forward to it.

The one thing I want to share with you today is to take time to recharge and enjoy moments of doing nothing. If you are like me you get a sense of accomplishment from barreling through your "to do" list.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Entropy - The Disuse Syndrome

By Tom Venuto - author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

Do you know what the word “entropy” means? In Webster’s, entropy is defined as, "The degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity." Put more simply, entropy is the tendency of all matter to fall apart, wear out or disintegrate into the substance from which it came.

In some cases, using material things wears them out faster. Your car, for example, accumulates wear and tear and loses it's value when you put a lot of miles on it. Entropy occurs in the human body in the opposite fashion: It falls apart when it is NOT used. Differently stated, “Use it or lose it.”

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Your prayers to be fit have been answered

Get fit and celebrate your faith with Body Gospel.  This workout is unlike anything you have ever seen.  Fitness and Faith.  What a combo!



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Cures for "alligator" skin

Do you have what I call "alligator skin?" That is when your skin is so dry lines appear that look like the pattern of alligator skin.

This can happen when you have been outside quite a bit or in the dryness of winter. This time of year it is most likely due to overexposure to the sun.

What can you do about alligator skin?

Zig Zag Dieting and Listening To Your Body

from The Straight Dope

Not to be confused with yo-yo dieting, zig zag is a technique that should be used any time you want to increase or decrease your daily caloric intake and can be used to find out what your caloric intake should be. Instead of moving straight to a new daily caloric number you move in smaller increments on a staggered schedule. Here’s an example of how it works:

Say, for example, you’re eating 1500 calories a day and have been for a period of time where you’ve lost weight. Now your weight loss has stagnated. This is one of our most common scenarios because the new, fitter you has a different body composition than the former you. You have more muscle and a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR). In order to continue your weight loss you need to eat more because 1500 calories isn’t enough—even though it once was—and now your body is reacting by slowing its metabolism and releasing cortisol in a protective response (often called starvation mode because this is how your body would respond to being starved).

At times this could be a lot more because huge caloric reductions can work in the initial stages of a program for deconditioned people. Let’s say that the individual in question runs a caloric calculation and figures they need 2,500 calories per day.

Weight times 10, plus 10-30% for daily activity depending on how active you are, plus the estimated caloric burn of your exercise, or just go here.

You don’t want to jump straight to 2500 calories. First, it would create some shock to your system and, second, it may be wrong as those calculators only give ballpark figures. The most effective thing to do is to zig zag your caloric intake. In this instance I would recommend eating 2000 calories per day for 3-4 days per week and 1500 calories the other days. Then you note how your body responds, which I would expect to be positively on the higher caloric days and by feeling famished on the low-cal days.

You want to be energized but not hungry, so after a week or two of this I would bump up to around 2200 cals for 4 or 5 days and 1500 cals on 2 days for, maybe one week. If I’m still starving on the low days try bumping them up to 2000 and see how you respond. Use this tactic until you regulate, which means that you’re energized but not hungry and also not full. You can tell when you’re eating too many calories because you’ll begin to feel full, you won’t digest your food between meals, and you’ll feel more lethargic at the beginning of workouts.

Zig zag dieting works whether you need to reduce or increase your caloric intake, and whether you need a subtle change or dramatic change. There is no numbers formula except to increase/decrease in small increments between 200 and 500 calories a day and to zig zag your caloric intake two to four times per week. Then you just listen and let your body tell you how much you should eat.

Why Yoga is a Good Part of Any Workout Regime for Women

Being woman today is not all that easy. The days of staying home and taking care of the little ones and cooking dinner are over, we super women are now in charge of making half the money for our household, and on top of that we have a million other things we have to do.

The combination of being soft, beautiful, loved and understood in every moment of the day in the same time, includes performing of the most professional duties, to cook, to put some clothes and hygiene in the home, to cope with the problems of the children etc. These quiet heroines take care of their families and very often have no adequate form of quality use of their free time. In the world of football fields and gambling, loud cafes and fitness centers, the women must fight for their place.

When it comes to good health, despite the healthy and natural food, healthy lifestyle, it is underlined the importance of the physical activity. The exercises are important for all ages. When the organism starts to function well and balance the energies, wakes up the natural physical and psychological needs when the woman spontaneously begin to be interested in healthier lifestyle.

Since yoga has spread to the West, many women have become its supporters. Perhaps it can always find what they need moderate psychological activity, harmonizing personality, finding a healthier lifestyle, spiritual recovery.

It is known that the yoga releases stress, improves the elasticity and strengthens muscles. According to some medical experts, yoga can have significant role in the treatment of serious health problems.

The atmosphere in which yoga classes take place is calm and supportive. This is very good for pregnant women. These women want not to be disturbed, in complete peace and concentration to be in contact with their body and soul. The exercises provide better mobility and strengths, better circulation throughout the body, sense of balance and fulfillment with energy. During pregnancy, these exercises are a good friend for the future mother reducing the pain in the back and waist, sleeplessness, anxiety, variable mood etc.

The woman is fully involved in exercise and consciously harmonizes the activities of the body, mind and breathing. When she performs exercises her breathing is adjusted to the movement of the body.

Healthy lifestyle is the natural need of the body and mind, and that’s why yoga is the perfect addition to any woman’s workout regimen !

Friday, June 11, 2010

Hate soap scum in your shower? You can beat it!

Have you stopped using bar soap because of it's faults? Or do you put up with them?

Here's how to salvage your soap and eliminate the shower scum and other negative side effects hard soap has on your shower.

I absolutely hate when soap builds up on my shower walls. I stopped using bar soap just to avoid it. I found liquid body washes don't leave the same residue behind so I switched.

I also hate that cold clammy feeling when you first pick your bar of soap up. And what is up with that gross goop that is left where the bar was sitting all day? Yuck!

As I was cleaning out my drawers the other day I came across some fabulously scented bar soap samples that I never used. They smelled wonderful and I wanted to use them but didn't want to deal with the mess.

Then I remembered a gift a friend had given me. It was called a leafa which is basically a loufa built to hold a bar of soap. It has a pocket for the bar to go in so the bar is self contained inside the leafa.

I tried it out and it worked great. I highly recommend finding one if you want to resurrect your hard soap collection. Using the leafa made the soap lather up just like a body wash and the best part is it came with a rope to hang over your shower handle.

No more cold clammy bars. No more messy soap dishes...and no soap scum.

The problem now is choosing between my favorite body washes and my favorite scented soaps!

I am so excited that I can again use my hard soap that I am offering a free bar of my Cassia Clove soap to all my Beauty with a Cause customers who place an order of $50 or more in the month of June. Happy Showering!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Magic Cream vs. Night Cream


Today I got the question, "Which is better for aging skin - Magic Cream or Night Cream?"

I recommend going with Magic Cream. You get a denser product to carry nutrients to your skin. Olive oil and jojoba oil are the main ingredients which hydrate your skin's surface. Jojoba oil is very close to the natural oils produced by your skin. Olive oil is a wonderful friend to your skin. It contains antioxidants which help trap free radicals.

Free radicals are those nasty molecules that damage your good cells.

If you want more of a testimony for olive oil based products, consider this, Jeanne Calment, who holds the record for the longest confirmed lifespan, reportedly attributed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed into her skin.

So in addition to using olive oil based products, look for ways to add extra virgin olive oil into your diet. As always, drink plenty of water and strive for 8 hours of sleep to give your skin the fighting chance it needs to repair itself.

You can find Magic Cream at www.BeautyWithACause.com.

Monday, June 7, 2010

What's in a brand

What is in a brand?

Last night I was flicking channels. As I did, I came across several skin product commercials. The more I watched the angrier I became.

The deception and sneaky marketing targeted at young adults, teens and aging women was blatant. It was all smoke and mirrors.

When it comes to skin and beauty products you really have to look beyond the brand and the flashy ads. The giant cosmetic companies spend millions on establishing their brand. They show you beautiful airbrushed models and hire big named Hollywood stars to endorse their products.

That is what is in their brand. Fluff and false beauty. Do you really think someone like Drew Barrymore really wears CoverGirl make-up? I highly doubt it.

The claims are equally outrageous. "Use our products and your acne will go away." You can substitute the word "acne" for "wrinkles," "blemishes," or "fine lines."

A little truth here ladies...acne and blemishes are related to what you are eating or not eating, how much sleep you are getting and how toxic the products you use every day are. No skin care product is going to "cure" your sleep habit or dietary problems. If you want acne to go away, eat nutritious food, drink lots of water and get enough sleep on a regular basis. Ditch high sugar beverages like soda and those wonderful flavored waters.

If you have wrinkles - news flash - you are aging. I have yet to see a product that stops you from getting older. You want less wrinkles - avoid long exposure to the sun, drink water and don't use harsh skin care products. Take good care of your body with an active fitness program and balanced nutrition.

Look behind the brand. The ingredients in the department store brands are doing more harm to your body than good. Just check out the Dirty Dozen (REFERENCING YOUR SITE HERE). There are carcinogens, irritants, and ingredients that cause birth defects in those products.

So, my advice to you, use the "big" brands sparingly. Shop the small boutique and hand made brands. These companies are much more likely to spend their dollars on high quality ingredients. A test of a good product is if you can read the label and pronounce all the ingredients listed.

A trustworthy brand is one which identifies which ingredients are organic and what percentage of the entire product is organic. You might not get a splashly label and their website might not be the most professional looking site. Most handcrafters are specialists in their product and not marketers or webdesigners.

Look behind the glitz for good ingredients. After all, only the product is what comes into contact with your skin. So next time you are looking for a good cleanser or a great lotion, skip the department store and go online. That is where you will find the best variety of non-toxic skin care products that are made with care by actual people who wear the products themselves.

Visit www.beautywithacause.com for a diversified selection of non-toxic products for skin, hair, teeth and body.

Friday, June 4, 2010

National Donut Day

Put the donut down

Don't panic - just step carefully away from the doughnut.

Did you know that Dunkin Donuts Boston Creme donut has 280 calories. Almost half of them are from fat. You get 1/4 of your entire day's fat allowance in that one doughnut.

In addition you get 16 grams of sugar.

Combine that with a small coffee with cream and sugar and you now have 1/2 your day's fat allowance. Let's be real here - how many of you get the SMALL coffee?

Now I know just how good a doughnut can be. Today is national doughnut day so it is tempting to make the exception and have just one...

If you do break down and have one, make sure the rest of your day is squeaky clean. Eat at least two pieces of fruit, have a big salad and avoid soda.

Sometimes it is ok to cheat. If this is the only time during the year that you have a doughnut, you are probably a saint. If you are a regular doughnut eater, however, it is time to make a change.

Take our 500 pound gorilla challenge and get a buddy system to help take the fat off.

If you ate the donut, then you have to do the "time" now. Take the challenge and take off the weight!